Fazer 1000 Suspension woes and more

[kebab19]

Kebab, is this what you used? https://www.solomotoparts.com/Race-Tech-...Z-1-01-05/ and how hard are they to fit for a reasonably competent DIYer?

Yes, that's one of the kits, but not sure which one.  With the Racetech kits you can buy the Compression valves on their own,  Rebound valves on their own or both sets of valves together in one kit.  The single kit's serial number is is FMGV S2047, but I bought the set with both compression and rebound valves - serial number FMGV S2047C. If you type S2047 or S2047C into ebay, you can see the kits for sale, such as item #192879930393.

The compression valve is actually pretty easy to replace - you don't need to separate the upper & lower stanchions, just pull the 8mm allen bolts out under neath the bottom of the lowers and lift the inner cartridges come out. After that, add some heat to get the originals off. You could also re-fit the original compression valves back on if for some bizarre reason you wanted to.
The rebound valves are more difficult, requiring drilling out / widening the inner cartridge rods and shortening the little oil damping rods that sit just under the fork caps. Not too difficult IMO but something to bear in mind.
You could just fit the easier compression valves, but I suspect that would further highlight the poor standard rebound effects even more...